Florida County saves $30M in Work Optimization

The execution of recommendations based on two evaluations for Volusia County, Florida has now saved the County more than $30 million since 2008. The County implemented many of the recommended improvements as described in the two evaluations for the Public Works Department that were conducted in 2007 and 2009. With a considerable investment of time and resources, the County desired to determine the impact and results of their efforts. In 2017, the Department management and County leadership initiated a proactive effort to evaluate the before/after results from these two previous evaluations over the past 10 years.

Several factors, along with a variety of operational data sources, including Lucity work order data, were considered when evaluating the changes. The Department realized significant savings in several areas related to O&M after the implementation of the initial recommendations from the 2007 and 2009 evaluations. This represented approximately $2 million in savings. The following are just a few noteworthy results.
• The Mosquito Control Division saved $721,000 by reducing internal helicopter maintenance needs via outsourced support, the full allocation of overhead billing, and combining two maintenance yards into one.
• The Solid Waste Division saved $431,000 through the elimination of unnecessary holiday and Sunday support and the modification of work methods for alternative daily cover at the landfill.
• The Road and Bridge Division’s Drainage Task Team (DTT) saved $175,000 annually through the elimination of inefficient internal billing methods, as well as the elimination of travel and redundant activities already performed by either the Road and Bridge or Mosquito Control crews.
• Water Resources and Utilities Division saved $539,000 by reducing water loss and unnecessary capital costs.

The 10-year assessment indicates that the County is doing more work with less equipment and financial resources with about the same number of staff. This is not to indicate that further improvement cannot be made, but rather that the data shows that significant improvement has occurred in the last 10 years. Volusia County Public Works, staff and management, is to be congratulated for accepting an independent report’s ideas and then for making the effort to implement those ideas. The consequences of these efforts have resulted in considerable benefit for County residents by optimizing the county workforce and the resources while reducing overall cost.